It's been a weekend of giving thanks and, evidently, a weekend of dancing too. Thanks to St. Albert the Great Congregation for having me at your event and for helping me get my groove on. I had a blast!

While many Calgarians already thank their Calgary Transit drivers every day, Monday is the official Thank Your Driver Day. Take a moment to say a quick word, give a card, or even put in an official commendation to your favourite driver who works hard to get you where you need to go safely and on time. Or simply share your appreciation on social media with the tag #ThanksCT

I particularly love that we (along with many other cities around the world) celebrate this day near March 18 because on that day in 1662, bus service debuted in Paris with horse-drawn carriages. Your friendly bus or train driver today is part of a long history of people helping their fellow citizens get where they need to go.

March 12, 2018 Our transit drivers have a hard job: keeping up with timed schedules, steering through unpredictable traffic, navigating detours, driving in severe weather and keeping customers safe through it all. But they make it look easy. For all their hard work every day of the year, the least w...

One of my favourite days of the year is Neighbour Day! It's a great opportunity for all of us to come together to celebrate the strength of our community. Whether it's an event to build something, clean a public space, or simply an excuse to get together with friends and neighbours for good food and good times, Neighbour Day can be so amazing. This year's Neighbour Day is June 16, and it's a good idea to start planning now so you can take advantage of waived permit fees and other resources from The City of Calgary. Learn more and get great ideas of www.Calgary.ca/NeighbourDay. Also: please invite me! I'd love to visit! #YYCNeighbourDay

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Yesterday, City Council approved amendments to the Land Use Bylaw to allow secondary suites as a discretionary use within R-1, R-C1, and R-C1L land use district...s.

Now, instead of applying to Council, home owners will file a development permit with the planning department. Applications will be reviewed by planning staff and a decision made based on its planning merits and whether it follows the requirements for secondary suites. Community associations and neighbours are also given the opportunity to provide comments during the review process, and a decision on a discretionary development permit may be appealed.

Owners of illegal suites will now have an easier time applying for the proper permits required to bring their suites up to safety standards.

Prior to last night, Calgary was the only major city in Canada that continued to force people to come to City Council meetings to ask for the right to do something with their own property: to put a stove in their basement. Today, we've created a system is much more dignified, fair, and consistent.

Now, if you want to build a secondary suite (eg: a basement suite) in an R1 community, you simply need to apply for a development permit. If you meet the requirements for that permit (and after your neighbours have had an opportunity to share their input), you'll be able to move forward with your project.

I continue to be focused on building a better economy, stronger communities, and an even smarter city hall. By changing the way we do secondary suites throughout Calgary, we are taking a big step forward in all three of these areas.

Better economy: we're making it easier for Calgary homeowners to create a safe and legal secondary suite as a way to pay for a mortgage, achieve home ownership, or create an important source of income.

Stronger community: We're adding housing stock at different price points throughout the city and increasing affordable housing options.

Even smarter city hall: With this decision, we've cut red tape and created a much more efficient and dignified process for Calgarians.

Making this change has been a passion of mine since before I was elected as mayor. I'm proud that this council was able to make this important decision.

We're looking for the next amazing Mayor for A Day. If you're in grades 9-12, give us your 3 ideas to make Calgary an even better city and you could join me and my team for a day at City Hall. Visit https://youthcentral.com/mayorforaday/ to enter.

We've got a heck of a lot of snow over the past 24 hours and our full snow and ice crews are working non-stop to keep our main roads clear and safe. As they get to snow route roads, please help them out by making sure your vehicle is moved.

ALSO: I've activated #yycsnowpups on Twitter and might as well here to...o. Please feel free to post a pick of your pooch in the snow in the comments. In weather like this, we could all use a smile.

Stay warm and safe out there, folks! To learn more about how we clear snow in Calgary (including seeing a live GPS map of our roads crews), visit www.Calgary.ca/snow

We had big, big news yesterday about adding more affordable housing for Calgarians. The City of Calgary partnered with the non-profit community to create six new development sites for affordable housing projects. As I say in the release, Calgarians have told us that affordable housing needs to be a major priority and partnering with the community to deliver more affordable housing options is key. This historic sale is a great example of collaboration, and is the largest non-commercial land transaction in the City of Calgary’s history. I'm very proud of my many colleagues who have worked to make this happen.

Yesterday, the Naheed Nenshi for Mayor campaign provided its audited financial disclosure and campaign finance statement to Elections Calgary as per the Local Authorities Elections Act (LAEA).

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“We are pleased to provide this final disclosure statement, as required under law. Of course, we had disclosed all of our donors prior to Election Day,” said Zain Velji, Campaign Manager.

“While this disclosure can only include donors over $100 (as per the LAEA), we have also previously disclosed all donors from $1 up. We are deeply grateful to everyone who made a statement for the kind of city they want by making a donation. In addition to the 750 names on this list, we had over 1000 donors under $100, which we believe to be a record. This campaign was always about the grassroots--about real Calgarians--not about the desires of big special interests.”

“Mayor Nenshi also remains deeply committed to campaign finance reform,” added Velji. “He has already been in touch with the provincial government to again urge them to make changes to ensure a more level playing field for all who wish to run for office--changes that include spending limits, donation limits, and stringent disclosure rules. We are all hopeful that the province will make these changes.”

All candidate disclosure documents will be accessible by the public at Calgary.ca/Elections on Monday, March 5, 2018.

Tomorrow's your last day to nominate amazing Calgarians for the Calgary Awards! Help us to honour the people and organizations that make our city truly great. Visit www.Calgary.ca/CalgaryAwards to learn more.

What could make our great city even better? Help form Calgary’s submission for the Smart Cities Challenge.

Together, we can win $50 million from the Federal Gov...ernment’s Smart City Challenge. We want you to share what can make a great city even better with a focus on economic opportunity and empowerment and inclusion for all Calgarians.

Submit your challenge by March 5! Be inspired by what we can achieve together and share your thoughts.

Calgary is an amazing city because of the people that live and work here. I am always so very proud of the contributions that Calgarians make every day to improve our community for every one of us. The Calgary Awards Program acknowledges these Calgarians. If you know an individual or organization that should be recognized, visit www.calgary.ca/calgaryawards for more information.

PLEASE SHARE: Another snow route parking ban will start at 10am on Saturday. You can learn more about what that means for you at www.Calgary.ca/snow.

In the meantime, crews are working non-stop on our Priority 1 routes (Crowchild, Glenmore, etc) to make sure the main arteries of our city are as safe and efficient as possible given the weather conditions. It looks like our current winter storm should wrap up later this evening.

A huge thanks to my colleagues who are out there helping to keep our city moving. And thanks to everyone in advance for helping to make our snow route parking ban a success. As always: stay warm and safe!

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for the city of Calgary and some areas received up to 20 centimetres of new snow overnight. Environment Canada is forecastin...g up to 15 cm of new snow throughout the day.

Currently roads crews are focused on clearing Priority 1 routes. Visit calgary.ca/snow for the latest updates.

The best option is to stay home and off of the roads if you can, but here are some tips if that’s not an option:

- Plan ahead, leave early and give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination. - Bundle up and brush all the snow off your vehicle. - Be a good neighbour and help shovel if you can. - Watch out for roads crews and emergency vehicles and ensure you give them space to work.

Good news! The City-wide snow route parking ban will be lifted as of 7 a.m. on Wednesday, February 7--a day ahead of schedule! Thanks to everyone who moved their vehicles so that my colleagues on the roads (who were working around the clock) could get all Priority 1 and 2 as quickly and efficiently as possible.

After the ban has been lifted, crews will continue working through the 7 Day Snow Plan, moving onto Priority 3 and 4 roads.

We may issue another snow route parking ban... should we get another major dump of snow. We're all keeping a close eye on the weather reports.

Visit calgary.ca/snow for more information about The City’s snow clearing priorities.